The
Department of Justice memo, titled “Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation
Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operation Leader of
al-Qaeda or An Associated Force,” that was obtained by the Fox
News Channel's chief national security correspondent Catherine Herridge,
defines drone attacks on U.S. citizens who were involved in violent
attacks as being legal.

According
to Herridge, the memo states: “The condition that an operational
leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against
the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence
that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place
in the immediate future.”

This
latest revelation has created an outpouring for complaints regarding
citizens' constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure,
Fifth Amendment protection, and other issues. "What scares many
Americans on both sides of the political spectrum is the use of these
drones to not only conduct surveillance operations stateside but also
to use them to kill terrorist suspects who are citizens without due
process," said Mike Baker, a political strategist.

The
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) appears prepared to allow the
use of unmanned aerial vehicles within the United States, by both law
enforcement agencies and private citizens, with practically no restrictions.

Experts
predict that by the end of the decade, there will be about 30,000 drones
flying over the United States. Legislators in at least eleven
states want to impose limits on the use of UAVs as worries grow
that the unregulated use of drones would erode the liberties of Americans,
according to Homeland Security News Wire.

Law
enforcement agencies primarily use smaller versions of what many like
to call Predator drones, which the military and CIA utilize in war zones.
The non-military versions are used by local law enforcement for surveillance,
search-and-rescue missions, to monitor traffic and even help with crowd
control. While their use is now primarily
for surveillance, there is concern that one day deadly weapons could
be mounted onto domestic drones. However, non-lethal weaponry including
rubber bullets, laser projectiles and tear gas is more likely should
police agencies wish to use their UAS offensively, according to former
police chief and security director Joseph Wheeler.

Unmanned
aerial systems appear to be all the rage within the law enforcement
and military communities, especially since they do not carry a pilot
on board, but instead operate on pre-programmed routes and by following
commands from pilot-operated ground stations. But members of House of
Representatives decided to investigate its uses -- especially its domestic
uses by federal, state and local law enforcement -- as well as its impact
on civil liberties, according to a
Government Accountability Office report released on Sept. 14, 2012.

UAS
can be small, generally 55 pounds or less, or large, such as unmanned
helicopters. The GAO noted that current domestic uses include law
enforcement, forest fire monitoring, border security, weather research,
and scientific data collection. And while current uses are limited,
that is likely to change under the Obama administration.

As
the nation moves closer to sequestration -- across-the-board budget
cuts to the military, intelligence agencies and law enforcement departments
-- Unmanned Aerial Systems may become more and more useful in maintaining
a certain degree of security, according to former police commander Charles
Nettinger, now a security consultant.

"Two
or three unmanned aerial vehicles will be able to monitor entire cities
even during the darkest nights. If need be, weapons systems could be
mounted on them, but that isn't a desirable outcome," Nettinger
said.

The
Federal Aviation Administration authorizes UAS use on a case-by-case
basis after conducting a safety review. FAA and the other federal
agencies that have a role or interest in UAS are working to provide
routine access for UAS into the national airspace system, according
to the 49-page GAO report.

Progress
has been made, but additional work is needed to overcome many of the
obstacles to the safe integration of UAS that the GAO first identified
in 2008. At that time, the GAO
analysts reported that "UAS could not meet the aviation safety
requirements developed for manned aircraft and that this posed several
obstacles to safe and routine operation in the national airspace system."

The
GAO
analysts also noted: "These obstacles still exist and include
the inability for UAS to sense and avoid other aircraft and airborne
objects in a manner similar to manned aircraft; vulnerabilities in the
command and control of UAS operations; the lack of technological and
operational standards needed to guide safe and consistent performance
of UAS; and final regulations to accelerate the safe integration of
UAS into the national airspace system."

The
U.S. Congress set specific requirements and deadlines in its FAA Modernization
and Reform Act of 2012 for FAA to safely accelerate UAS integration.
FAA has begun making progress toward completing those requirements,
but has missed one deadline and could miss others. Many of the requirements
entail significant work, including completing planning efforts and issuing
a final rule for small UAS. Most of the requirements are to be achieved
by December 2015.

Concerns
about privacy are far from being resolved and may influence acceptance
of routine access for UAS in the national airspace system. The Department
of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration has the
authority to regulate security of all modes of transportation, including
non-military (local police, fire, border patrol, and emergency management)
UAS.

Meanwhile,
Americans' privacy concerns include the potential for increased amounts
of government surveillance using technologies placed on UAS, the collection
and use of such data, and potential violations of constitutional Fourth
Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizures.

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Currently,
no federal agency has specific statutory responsibility to regulate
privacy matters relating to UAS for the entire federal government. Some
lawmakers believe that the Department of Homeland Security or the Department
of Justice (DOJ) might be better positioned to address privacy issues
since they generally stem from the operational uses of UAS for governmental
surveillance and law enforcement purposes.

"However,
many Americans may find the DHS and DOJ too politicized for such power
and decision-making," said police sergeant Stanley McLaughlin,
who's worked as a police aviation instructor.

"People
-- myself included -- may be adverse to the use of 'eyes in the sky'
being controlled by agencies that are engulfed in investigations into
their alleged corruption or misconduct," said McLaughlin.

The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) appears prepared to allow the use of unmanned aerial
vehicles within the United States, by both law enforcement agencies and
private citizens, with practically no restrictions.